October 2008 update
ZAMBIA: SME Conference 'Expanding Business Horizons'
ACCA Zambia organised a high profile SME Conference in Lusaka on 24 September, which was opened by a key note address delivered by the Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry. Other prominent speakers included the Executive Secretary of the Zambia Chamber of Small and Medium Business Associations (ZCSMBA), Director of the SME Divison of the Zambia Development Agency, General Manager of the Lusaka Stock Exchange as well as senior ACCA members namely Hastings Mtine, Senior Partner at KPMG and Ezekiel Sekele, Finance Manager at the Zambian Breweries Plc. The conference attracted some 120 SME owner/managers and covered a wide ranging topics from corporate governance for SMEs, the business benefits of listing on the Lusaka Stock Exchange, accessing alternative sources of funding, producing bankable business plans and more generally, expanding business horizons beyond Zambia. The conference made it onto the lunch time news as well as numerous other newspaper coverage. The conference also marked the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between ACCA and ZCSMBA outlining the mutual agreement for closer cooperation over the next three years on improving the financial management of Zambian SMEs through joint projects.